Previously on ModFab

2007 Verve Awards
2006 Verve AwardsBest Arts and Culture Blog

2005 Queer Day AwardsBest Gay Blog Nominee

2004 Weblog AwardsBest Arts and Culture Blog Nominee

Thursday, June 19, 2008

What We're Up Against

Sold at the Texas state Republican Party convention this week:Rod2.0, bless his heart, brings this offensive, racist 'joke' to wider attention. Can we expect such race-baiting to continue? Count on it. The Republicans are behind in the polls and desperate to win...which means that going negative, and racist, is going to be the story this fall.

Some big Republican should apologize. McCain, probably...although he doesn't have the balls.

4 Comments:

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) – The Texas Republican Party is telling a vendor who sold campaign buttons it considers racist at a state convention over the weekend that he's no longer welcome.

The head of the Texas GOP says they will "neither tolerate nor profit from bigotry."

The buttons asked, "If Obama is president … will we still call it The White House?" Jonathan Alcox says he was trying to be funny, and based the button on a political cartoon. He describeshimself as an independent who may vote for Obama.

But the Texas Republican Party doesn't see the joke. Besides banning Alcox from its future conventions, it's alerting the Republican National Convention about him. And officials say the $1,500 vendor's fee he paid to sell at the state convention is being donated to Midwest flood victims.

Steve, yes, this is good on some level...but there was no way they couldn't condemn it, considering the amount of press it's gotten. The larger question is: why did they allow it in the first place, before the news media latched onto the story?

The fact is, Republicans are fine with racist stuff if it works against Obama. They only condemn it when they're caught.

In addition, you should be aware that this button is WIDELY available and has been passed around as one of their more popular "pieces of flair" on Facebook... this isn't something that is held simply at the Texas state level.

No matter which way you slice it, the button and sentiments behind it debase our national discussion for moving our nation forward. Everyone regardless of political persuasion should condemn racist comments like these and the ones, sadly, that are likely to come.